Ever wondered just exactly how movies get their ratings? It's an interesting process that has created huge controversies in the past, especially among people desperate to see more naked bodies and giggle moments surrounding the "f" word appear in lower rated films. When studio's have a project that gets a rating they're not happy with, the process is appealled. The Hollywood Reporter indicates that the latest member of that group are the producers behind Miramax's The Great Raid.
The Great Raid, a film recounting the brave, against-all-odds rescue of WWII prisoners of war by an elite group of Army Rangers, received an R rating by the MPAA. The seems reasonable. It is a war movie that circulates around the Bataan Death March and subsequent imprisonment and torture of soldiers. No doubt the simple nature of the story was enough to make the board wary of giving it too low a rating. Producers disagree.
Harvey Weinstein, one of the producers of The Great Raid, explains: "There have been a number of war films with comparable levels of violence that were given a 'PG-13' rating, including such films as 'Hotel Rwanda,' 'Master and Commander' and 'Pearl Harbor'...The violence is not there to shock the audience, rather it's to show them an accurate depiction of what happened and is by no means excessive."
No doubt Harvey and his friends are interested in their film staying open to younger viewers being able to attend the film without having to drag their parents. No doubt he's also interested in his film's bottom line, but should The Great Raid stay true to the real men and true story it represents I would say that the more people who see it the better. Nevertheless, the higher rating could be beneficial. If an R rating gets parents to go with their kids (yeah, I know, in a perfect world), all the better.
So, how does the appeal process work? 14-18 members of the film industry (kinda vague, ain't it?) come together, watch the film, consider arguments from both the studio and the original rating committee and then decide by a secret ballot. Two-thirds favor will get the film a new rating. The committee will have to work fast. The Great Raid hits theaters next week.
